Title: White Day
Summary: KakaSaku Generation-swap drabble.
Words: 656
Note: So I missed Valentine's Day to post a KakaSaku drabble/one-shot because it ended up changing on me. So I decided to go with the next best thing and do a White Day drabble. (Yes, I'm aware White Day happens one month after Valentine's Day). I haven't written much in a while so I'm very rusty. Please excuse any mistakes.
It was a simple gift really, accompanied by an equally simple message.
Sakura read the note once more, holding the thick ivory card in her hand up to the light that poured in through the windows of her office.
Happy White Day it said in looping silver handwriting.
Attached to the missive was a pure white ribbon. Identical to the type she once wore in her formative years as a chunin and jonin. The weight and cool silky feeling of it on her fingers was familiar as an old friend.
Someone had to have gone out of their way to find it outside of Konoha, probably in a different country, as the material used for the ribbons she wore was hard to come by these days. With Akatsuki as a distant but growing threat, war was inevitably on the horizon and rationing made a great many things deemed luxuries scarcer and pricy.
Sakura smiled at the gift, appreciative.
When a knocking sound came from behind her office door, she quickly refolded the ribbon. She stashed it in her robe pocket. The card she decided to stand on end at the corner of her mahogany desk, alongside the framed pictures of her two genin teams, tactfully concealed behind deluged stacks of scrolls and files.
"Come in," Sakura called cheerily. Surprised excitement bubbled in her stomach.
A team of four ninja entered, three of them came to her waist when she stood. On them carried the scents of upturned dirt, dried sweat, and a cooked meal. Sakura suspected them ordered to train before they ate.
The fourth towered over the others from behind like a crooked tree. His hair shined silver-white in the patch of morning sun he slouched in. Unlike his charges, he did not have the smell or appearance of exertion.
Sakura rested her elbows on her desk that creaked with having to bare yet more weight. She leaned forward. "Good morning."
"Good morning Hokage-sama!" the three smaller ones greeted, bowing their respect.
One of the genin, a brown-haired boy with an oval-shaped face by the name of Fuma, turned to look up at their superior and, essentially until their skills improved, glorified babysitter.
"Kaka-sensei, why don't you bow or kneel like everyone else?" he asked.
Sakura smirked. Enjoying how the famed Copy-Ninja struggled to answer as he pocketed his hands and glanced away as if he couldn't be bothered to answer. A signature habit he had since childhood.
The other two genin, Kagura a redheaded boy with a temper and Natsuki a sweet fair-haired girl, turned to regard their sensei as well. Curiosity burned in their wide eyes.
She knew the truth. Kakashi Hatake had a pride as large as the Hokage Mountain and an ego that ran a bit deeper than was psychologically deemed healthy. He never showed deference. He didn't have to.
He also so happened to be one of her former students.
As Sakura had discovered back when Kakashi had been a genin, he showed his respect and approval in different ways: such as following her orders when given, always giving her his full attention when she spoke, and willingly seeking her out for advice. They were quiet and simple acts.
Sakura also learned just less than three years ago that Kakashi showed love in a similarly less obvious way. He left anonymous notes and letters for her to find. Sometimes it was for when she had a bad day or like today, a special occasion. Sometimes, he left them just because. Those notes were usually her favorite.
Kakashi's eyes sought hers over his pupils' heads. When their gazes locked, his eyes creased into happy crescents. Though she couldn't see it, Sakura knew a smile lay beneath his mask that he bestowed upon her alone.
She received the message clearly, as if he had spoken the words "I respect you. I love you. Thank you for the valentine that wasn't a sweet."